Performance and COVID-19

What is happening?

A dramatic spike in traffic and usage during the nearly-global shift to work-from-home measures has made Adobe Connect unstable. This has meant trouble entering meetings, especially through the web-browser, and performance issues inside of meeting rooms. Sometimes Adobe Connect works perfectly; other times it has major challenges.

What do we recommend? 

For shorter meetings or smaller groups, move to another meeting option such as Teams (if your organisation uses it) or Skype during this period of time. To keep the opportunity to engage, the host of the meeting should remind everyone to open up the chat window at the beginning of the meeting for interactive opportunities to ask questions or request the floor. Screensharing can be used to present PowerPoint slides.

For Adobe Connect meetings to run as smoothly as possible:

1. Ask participants to enter through the application where possible. You can force this by disabling the HTML client for the room, so the participants are blocked from accessing through an internet browser. 
2. Be prepared to add more time to meetings in case of technical delays – most disruptions are fairly short even if they feel significant, so 15 minutes should be more than enough. Encourage early check-in.
3. Try to stick to one or very few layouts for the meeting to limit risks of uneven display for participants. Keep breakout rooms light (not a lot of uploaded content) or avoid using them.
4. Send your slides and materials out to participants in advance so they can follow along if they have display problems.
5. Limit the number of different speakers presenting or have a backup for them.

Adobe Connect has also shared a statement with recommendations. Find it here.